The House Armed Services Committee's mark of the fiscal year 2017 defense policy bill takes a strong stance against the Air Force's plan to use FY-17 funds to broaden the scope of its RD-180 engine replacement effort.
Thursday, May 2, 2024
Thursday, May 2, 2024
Key Issues HADES deployment SAOC contract FORGE framework
Courtney Albon was senior editor for aviation and space at Inside Defense until December 2021. She covered the Air Force since 2012, reporting largely on space programs and fighter aircraft acquisition, development and budget from inside Capitol Hill, the Pentagon, and from military installations around the United States. Courtney previously worked as a general assignment reporter at The Ashland Times-Gazette in Ashland, OH, covering education and local government. She graduated from American University in 2008, where she studied journalism and sociology.
The House Armed Services Committee's mark of the fiscal year 2017 defense policy bill takes a strong stance against the Air Force's plan to use FY-17 funds to broaden the scope of its RD-180 engine replacement effort.
The House Armed Services committee seeks to use Overseas Contingency Operations funding to support a number of plus-ups to Air Force procurement efforts -- including an unrequested $80 million boost to speed up the UH-1N Huey replacement program and support the sole-source acquisition of Army UH-60M Black Hawks.
House lawmakers want to shift some space-based weather monitoring responsibilities from the Defense Department to the National Reconnaissance Office, due largely to the department's apparent inaction in addressing near-term gaps in critical weather capabilities.
Concerned about the B-21's lengthy engineering and manufacturing development phase, House authorizers want the Air Force to submit a detailed progress report on the new bomber with the service's fiscal year 2018 budget request.
The House Armed Services Committee fiscal year 2017 mark will likely fund additional F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft for the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps, according to a minority staff member.
The first measure of success for Air Force Space Command's new enterprise vision will be seen in the service's plans for future satellite communications and space-based missile warning satellites, Gen. John Hyten told reporters recently.
The Air Force's decision to manage development of the next-generation B-21 bomber through its Rapid Capabilities Office could present Congress with oversight challenges, due largely to its inexperience managing rapid acquisition programs, according to a Congressional Research Service report published this week.
COLORADO SPRINGS, CO -- As United Launch Alliance eyes a late 2016 down-select decision on the engine for its next-generation Vulcan launch vehicle, the company's CEO said this week the performance of Blue Origin's BE-4 during a key risk-reduction test this fall will be a major driver for that decision.
COLORADO SPRINGS, CO -- Raytheon's program manager for the Air Force's next-generation Global Positioning System ground segment -- which has been called the Defense Department's most troubled program -- said this week the challenges the company faced developing an unprecedented cybersecurity infrastructure are largely a thing of the past.
Some must-reads from this week's issue of Inside the Air Force.
The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee this week sent a letter to Air Force leadership questioning estimates of the cost of eliminating the service's use of the RD-180-propelled Atlas V launch vehicle.
COLORADO SPRINGS, CO -- The Pentagon needs to develop a policy surrounding the use of space capabilities owned by industry and foreign governments to "apply lethal force," according to the Defense Department's top space policy official.
COLORADO SPRINGS, CO -- United Launch Alliance said this week it will know "in the next few days" which component caused an anomaly in its Atlas V launch vehicle.
COLORADO SPRINGS, CO -- Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-OK) has unveiled a sweeping space policy bill that calls for greater integration of commercial capabilities in military satellite programs and for increased resiliency on future constellations.
The Air Force has incurred $15.4 million in additional costs from Lockheed Martin after construction challenges at the first Space Fence site caused some schedule delays and additional work for the contractor.
Although Boeing remains confident in its ability to meet KC-46 contract obligations, the Pentagon's annual selected acquisition report and a Government Accountability Office analysis published this week reveal that several internal milestones have shifted under a new program baseline, and estimates that a full-rate production decision will be delayed six months from September 2017 to March 2018.
A top official in the Federal Aviation Administration's commercial space transportation office said this week the agency is willing to take on responsibility for space traffic management but that a consensus needs to be reached on how that role should take shape and be implemented.
Air Force planning officials will brief Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh later this spring on the requirements for a future close-air-support platform.
Some must-reads from this week's issue of Inside the Air Force.
Northrop Grumman announced today that it has submitted what the company calls "an innovative proposal" as part of the Air Force's effort to introduce competition into future Next-Generation Global Positioning System production.